A Whole Collection, Documented

A collection assembled over decades usually has no single current inventory. Items were bought, given, lent and moved, and the schedule the insurer holds is years out of date. When something needs to be found, valued, sold or divided, the absence of a record costs far more than the storage ever did.

Mixed collections also carry a valuation problem alongside the inventory problem. Different material needs different expertise to appraise, and a single generalist valuation across paintings, silver, furniture and books tends to be approximate in every category rather than accurate in any.

• A single inventory with a stable identifier per item.
• Photographs of every item as stored.
• Location within the facility, updated on every movement.
• Condition at intake, so later questions have an answer.
• A schedule in a form your insurer will actually accept.

Everything is in one place, in your hands, being handled once. That is the only moment when cataloguing costs nothing beyond the time it takes, because the items are already being moved.

Deferring it means opening every box again later, which in practice means it never happens. Collections stay undocumented for another decade because the easy moment passed.

1. 01Inventory on intake, item by item, with photographs.
2. 02Assign and maintain stable identifiers.
3. 03Track location and update it on every movement.
4. 04Store each material group appropriately rather than uniformly.
5. 05Provide records to you, your appraiser and your insurer on request.

Do the inventory at intake, when everything is in your hands at once. Doing it later means opening every box again, and in practice it means it never gets done — which is how collections end up undocumented for another decade.

All 5 →